Arun Jaitley: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee failed Constitution

The Election Commission cutting down campaign period in West Bengal shows there is a classic case of breakdown of the Constitutional machinery in the state, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said.

A constitutional authority, the Election Commission of India, has effectively held Bengal to be a "state in anarchy", said Jaitley in series of tweets.

Repeatedly escalating violence, state supported vandals, a partisan police and home department are the illustrations the ECI has given, he noted.

"A free campaign is not possible and therefore the campaign has to be cut short. This is a classical case of breakdown of the Constitutional Machinery," the minister said.

YOGI RAKES UP DURGA PUJA, MUHARRAM

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, meanwhile, opened a fresh front for BJP's attack against Trinamool chief and said Mamata is engaging in appeasing minorities as well as using undemocratic means to intimidate rivals.

Yogi said the politics that Mamata practices ought to be brought down. "They say BJP workers broke the statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. How did BJP workers enter a closed compound? I challenge TMC to put CCTV footage from the area in public domain. We have enough respect for Vidyasagar who was a great social reformer. We also respect statues and pray to statues. Is it not true that it was Mamata who had tried to halt Durga Puja for Muharram when the two had fallen on the same day last year?"

It would have been almost impossible for me to escape from there if the CRPF personnel won’t have been there. TMC can go to any extent. It is by luck that I managed to get out of there.
— Amit Shah, BJP president

Anybody can come and do procession, but what were the outsiders for.....Who is this fellow Tejinder Bagga? Who is he? He was arrested. Is he not the same guy who slapped somebody in Delhi? 
— Derek O’Brien, TMC spokesman 

It was a murder of democracy. This move by goons will end TMC govt. In a few days, TMC goons will be searching for shelters to hide their faces. Mamata is frustrated, why she is taking such steps 
— Yogi Adityanath, UP CM

Anyone can protest but it doesn’t mean tearing down all the posters. It is not legal. TMC people can stand to give a speech but the question is tearing poster-banner and throwing stones are not a protest 
— Roopa Ganguly, BJP MP

We condemn the destruction of Vidyasagar’s statue. This insult to the people of Bengal by BJP will never be forgiven. Greed for power will see the BJP dismantle every icon of Bengal, their legacy 
— Ahmed Patel, Congress leader